Retired Major Ernest Pettigrew, after his brother’s death, faces problems he must solve without compromising his notions of honor, duty, and decency. Passions flare up around a family relic that relatives intend to sell at a profit, and also around the major’s friendship with the owner of a village shop, the Pakistani Mrs. Ali. Both love literature, both have lost their spouses, and their friendship could turn into something more. But local society is not ready to accept a Muslim woman as an equal.